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Henham
Is a hamlet of Wangford, and the lordship of both was in the possession of Ralph
Bainard (Baignar, or Baynard), a powerful Norman Baron, soon after the conquest.
Jeffrey Baynard, his son and heir succeeded; whose son William, taking part with
Helias, Earl of Mayne, and others, against King Henry I., lost his Barony of
Bainard Castle; his estates being forfeited to the Crown.
The family of Kerdiston, about this period, became enfeoffed in these lordships;
probably by grant from that Monarch. It continued in that Baronial house until
the reign of King Henry VI. In the escheat rolls of the 29th of that King, the
jury find that Sir Thomas Kerdiston died not seized of the manors of Henham,
Bulcamp, and Stratford, in Suffolk; but that William de la Pole, late Duke of
Suffolk, and Alice his wife, as her right, entered on, and took the profits,
during the life of Sir Thomas Kerdiston; who died in the 25th of that reign.
This lady was daughter and heir of Thomas Chaucer, Esq., son of the famous poet
of that period, by Maud his wife, daughter and co-heir of John Burgherst, by
Maud his wife, daughter of Sir Wm. Kerdiston, and Margaret his second wife,
daughter of Edmund Bacon.
In the 3rd of King Henry VI., a fine was levied between Thomas Chaucer, Esq.,
and Maud his wife, querents, and Sir Thomas Kerdiston, and Elizabeth his
wife, deforcients, of several lordships conveyed to Maud, who with her
husband resettled them on Sir Thomas and Elizabeth, in tail, to be held of the
heirs of Maud: the above claim appears to be made in right of such conveyance.
In the 15th of King Edward IV., the Dutchess died, seized of this manor, and
John De la Pole inherited. On the attainder of Edmund De la Pole, Earl of
Suffolk, who was beheaded in the 5th of King Henry VIII., it became forfeited to
the Crown. After this it was granted by the said King, to Charles Brandon, Duke
of Suffolk.
After his death it again became Crown property; and Sir Arthur Hopton obtained a
grant of this estate, as Royal demesne; who, in the 37th of the said reign, sold
it to Sir Anthony Rous, Knt., Comptroller of Calais.
He was eldest son and heir of Sir William Rous, of Dennington, in this county,
Knt., by Alice his wife, daughter of Sir John Sulyard, of Wetherden, in Suffolk,
Knt., Lord Chief Justice of England; and from him lineally descended Sir John
Rous, of Henham Hall, created a Baronet in 10 GO; whose descendant, Sir John
Rous, Bart., M.P. for this county, was elevated to the Peerage in 1790, as Baron
Rous, of Dennington; and created, in 1821, Viscount Dunwich, and Earl of
Stradbroke.
John Edward Cornwallis Rous, Earl of Stradbroke, his eldest son and heir, the
present Peer, is now proprietor of this estate, and resides here: the noble
representative of a long line of distinguished ancestors, who have continued to
flourish in this county for many ages.
ARMS. Bainard: argent; a fess between two chevronels, azure. Kerdiston: argent;
a saltier, engrailed, gules. De la Pole: azure; a fess between three leopards'
heads, cabosed, or. Rous: sable; a fess dancettee, or; between three crescents,
argent. Crest: a bunch of bay leaves, piled in the form of a cone, proper.
Mem. Henham Hall was entirely destroyed by fire, in 1773: the loss estimated at
,30,000. An elegant mansion1 has since been erected; the seat of the present
proprietor.
1. A view and description of this is given in "Davy's Seats of
the Noblemen and Gentlemen in Suffolk."
County
of Suffolk
Topographical and Genealogical, The County of Suffolk, 1844, Augustine Page |
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